I can’t believe my nephew will be 11 years old this July.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.  He is truly a unique person and he amazes me everyday.  He is a deeply sensitive soul and doesn’t forget anything.  Of course, he is a typical boy who doesn’t want to clean his room and thinks passing gas is the funniest thing ever.  With his birthday coming in a few months he doesn’t really like toys anymore.  He’s more into playstation, ipods, NFL jerseys, and things that typically cost a lot more.  Grandma has claimed guitar hero as the gift she will get him so I don’t know what the rest of us will do.  I suppose we’ll have to ask him to make a list again like we did at Christmas.       

Today I prayed that I wouldn’t lose sight of how great my life is.  I got to spend some quality time with my 10 year old nephew playing ping pong, pool, and seeing the new movie Horton Hear’s a Who.  Which by the way was a hilarious movie, definitely a must see.  I know that I wish I could vacation more and spend money on the house but really I can’t complain about my life so far.  So I can’t afford a $13,000  IWC wrist watch, a mercedez benz, or designer jeans but who cares anyway when I have such a great family and husband?  I am so thankful for everyone in my life and they mean the world to me.   

I swear we should buy stock in pet supplies.  Our english bulldog newman still stinks even after we’ve given him a bath.  He has problems with itchy skin, dry eye, allergies to grass, and the fastest growing toenails I’ve ever seen in my life.  Even though he is a little high maintenence he has the best personality and would never make a good guard dog because he loves everyone.  Newman has never met a person or animal he didn’t like or want to play with.  The funniest thing is when I ask him a question, he always turns his head sideways and opens his mouth with a sigh as if he’s trying to answer.  Sometimes I really think he wishes he could talk back to me. 

Sometimes the thought of having kids scares me when I listen to my friends stories about the struggles they’ve had with newborns.  One of my good friends even told me she was worried about how having a baby would effect the horrible insomnia I’ve dealt with since childhood.  One of my good friends had so much trouble getting her kid to sleep she wanted to try one of those baby hammocks by amby baby to help rock her daughter to sleep.  Even though I think raising a child is one of the most difficult jobs in the world I also think it will be the most rewarding.       

My 10 year nephew loves to spend the night at our house.  We play Playstation until 1 o’clock in the morning and in the summer we play football in the backyard.  However, this morning the midwest winter storm dumped a fresh batch of snow on the ground so we had a snowball fight instead.  Great fun.  I enjoy these moments because one day he will grow up and spending the night with Aunt Jen and Uncle Bryan won’t be cool anymore. 

The mortgage crisis in the U.S. has made a few headlines lately with the highest foreclosure rates we’ve ever seen.  The numbers are astounding and I can’t imagine anything more devastating to a family than losing your home.  With all the negativity going around there is some good to find in all this.  I worked in the mortgage lending industry for over 5 years and knew all along that the business practices of mortgage companies would eventually fail some over-extended homeowners.  The sales tactics that I personally saw were not illegal but were just unethical.  I won’t go into details here, but the good thing is that maybe the mortgage crisis will bring more awareness to the lending practices of mortgage companies.  They need more regulation to hold them accountable for those over-extended consumers in order to protect them from foreclosure in the future.  There needs to be more education for potential home-buyers on how they can plan to purchase a home in the future if they can’t afford it now.  The other good thing about the morgage crisis and the high foreclosure rate is that people who have never been able to afford a home can now buy a foreclosed property at a reduced cost.  My sister is a working single mother and has never been able to afford to buy a home until now.  Just last week she closed on her first home at a reduced cost from the lender because it was a foreclosed property.  This in no way makes up for all those families losing their homes and I truly feel terrible for them.  When Hurricane Charley hit Florida I had a few customers with roofs blown off and debris from their home everywhere.  Unable to complete a mortgage loan for them all I could offer was some words of encouragement.  So, this too shall pass.                      

This past weekend we rented a 4 bedroom cabin to spend time with our out-of-state family.  Every year we make the journey to meet halfway and spend a weekend together.  We eat way too much, talk, play games, and had a fabulous spa night to pamper ourselves.  My aunt from Geogia has been doing grandpa’s family tree for quite some time and discovered that we are blood relatives of Benjamin Franklin.   

But the coolest thing of all is that my cousin is a breast cancer survivor.  She has endured surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and thankfully is now cancer free!  Her hats are now hanging in the closet because she said she is sick of wearing them.  Her hair is now growing back in and she looks better than ever.  I can’t express how thankful I am that the Grace of God has brought her through this.  My cousin is also a local advocate for breast cancer awareness and self exams.  She has six billboards around our city with her picture on it explaining the importance of self exams for breast cancer.  Even with her annual mammograms it was a self exam that detected the cancer and what ultimately saved her life.       

Recently my cat Cosmo became critically ill.  Suddenly he became very lethargic, wouldn’t eat, and cried out in agony.  I immediately took him to the emergency vet where they discovered that he had a bladder obstruction due to struvite crystals.  Struvite crystals are produced in cats urine normally but can frequently cause bladder obstruction in neutered males.  The formation of struvite crystals is preventable with a special diet.  Unfortunately for my wallet, I didn’t know this until after my cat became ill costing me over $800 in vet bills.  So, after 3 days of treatment Cosmo was well enough to come home.  In order to remove his IV and catheter he had to be sedated since he had grown to dislike the vet staff by biting them.  They brought him to me in a cardboard kennel, reached in and pulled his head out by the neck and said, “We had to sedate him, but look he’s doing fine.”  Cosmo was completely limp, unable to blink so his eyes where glazed over, and his tongue was dangling out of his mouth.  “Are you sure he’s ok?”  I said.  “Yes, the sedative will wear of quickly.”  So I paid the vet for saving my cats life and brought him home where he made a full recovery.  If you have a male cat that is neutered he is at a high risk for developing a bladder obstruction which is life-threatening if not treated quickly.  However, this condition is easily preventable by using cat food that prevents the struvite crystals from forming.